Former Mexican Official Admits Trump Could Easily Make Mexico Pay For Its Own Wall

Socialites and policy wonks in Washington, D.C. were recently blown out of the water by a speech given by a former official of the Mexican government. That official not only declared that Donald Trump could easily make Mexico pay for its own wall, but also tore apart some of the strongest immigration myths that have been popping up recently.

Jorge Castañeda served from 2000 to 2003 as Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He was in D.C. to give a speech on the U.S. and Mexico, but he quickly started talking about Trump's assertions that Mexico would pay for a wall between the two countries.

"[Trump] has many ways of getting many Mexicans to pay for the wall," Castañeda told the audience he was speaking to at the Hoover Institute. He went on to detail the many tariffs, visa fees, commissions and small ways that Trump could nickel and dime the Mexican people into funding construction of a wall.

Castañeda pointed out that many of the options available for the president, like increasing visa fees or raising tolls on Mexico-U.S. bridges, aren't decided by Congress or other parties but are made inside the executive branch.

He further went on to talk about the truth about the Mexican immigration system, tearing apart the idea that immigration from Mexico is a zero-sum number.

"Well, you have net-zero if you consider President Obama's 1.5 million Mexican deportees as voluntary returnees," said Castañeda. "If you had not deported those million and a half . . . then you would have roughly a million and half more Mexicans here."

Why do so many Mexicans want to come to the U.S.?

It's a matter of wages, pure and simple. Mexicans make about $300 a month when they can come here and make $11-15 per hour. That's a no brainer, said Castañeda.

It's so reassuring to actually get some hard facts from a government official in D.C. It's just too bad that this official was a Mexican government official, not one of our own.